This and That Trivia Quiz

Answer: They were both deaf

Possibly inspired by his mother's deafness, Bell became an early student of sound and speech, and one of his earliest jobs was to teach deaf children. He met his future wife, Mabel Hubbard, whilst teaching at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes. Mabel had been deaf from the age of five, when she contracted scarlet fever.

Answer: Oscar Diggs

The wizard wasn't named in the original novel, but when he made his second appearance in "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" he was named as Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Issac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs, or O.Z.P.I.N.H.E.A.D., which he, understandably, shortened to 'Oz'.

He has been given other names however, and in the 1978 film, "The Wiz" he was called Herman Smith and in Russia he is known as James Goodwin.

Answer: The letter "e" does not appear anywhere in the book

This 50,000 word novel is an example of a lipogram - a piece of writing which lacks a certain letter - in this case "e".

Answer: clowns

A fear of hands is chirophobia, fear of frost is cryophobia, and a fear of ugliness is cacophobia

Answer: Bulova clocks

On the 1 July 1941 NBC aired the world's first television commercial. For twenty seconds a clock filled the screens on WNBT-TV in New York, proclaiming "It's Bulova Watch Time". The advertisers paid $9 for their ad.

Answer: Eight Arms to Hold You

After their first film "A Hard Day's Night", the Beatles had to come up with a name for their new colour movie, and were getting a bit desperate when when Ringo suggested 'Eight Arms to Hold You'. They all agreed but after a while realised, as Paul put it "it was a crummy title", "a bit daft". Film Director, Dick Lester, came up with the new name.

Answer: Ken Rosewall

Kenneth Robert Rosewall, born in Sydney in 1934, won 18 major titles in a career spanning three decades. He was only 5'7" tall and, as a skinny teenager was dubbed 'muscles'.

Answer: Julius Caesar

Since around the turn of the 16th/17th centuries the identities of the kings have become more or less standardised. Hearts being Charlemagne; Spades, David and Clubs, Alexander the Great.

Answer: United Kingdom

The Penny Post was introduced in Great Britain on 6 May, 1840, showing the head of Queen Victoria, which was to remain on all British stamps for the next sixty years. Being the originator, Great Britain is now the only country in the world whose name does not appear on its postage stamps.

Answer: James Buchanan

James Buchanan, a lawyer, was born in Pennsylvania in 1791. He was the 15th President, serving from 1857-61. He never married or had children. His niece, Harriet Lane, acted as his hostess at White House functions.

Answer: Rock Hudson

Born in Illinois in 1925, the young Leroy Scherer adopted his step-father's name and was known as Roy Fitzgerald. After intensive coaching, many rejections, teeth capping and a further name change to the macho sounding Rock Hudson, a star was eventually born!

Answer: dog

The Montgolfier brothers had spent many months experimenting with paper, smoke and cloth at their paper mill in France before they sent up their first tethered flight. The sheep, duck and rooster travelled about two miles in a flight lasting eight minutes.

Answer: An icy fog

Ice fog is formed when water vapour meets saturated, bitterly cold air. It is most commonly seen hanging over roads due to the rapid freezing of the water vapours expelled from car exhausts (tailpipes).

Answer: Nerd

Theodor Geisel, otherwise known as Dr Seuss, introduced us to a small comic humanoid creature called a "nerd" in his book "If I Ran the Zoo" in 1950.

Answer: A Computer

Since 1927, when Charles Lindbergh was the first recipient, "Time" has presented an award to the person, or people, it felt had most influenced events during the preceding year. Women have featured, including Wallis Simpson (1936) and Queen Elizabeth II (1952), but the computer has so far (at 2002) been the only non human winner!